Defnder of Eorzea!

Majestic garden Fox enjoys Zoomies in the Snow

Trying to get to know the locals, but part-time babysitting isn’t quite working out.

“Not now,” says Mummy. “Wait until Daddy gets home.”

So they wait until Daddy gets home, and then Mummy says “Now dear, what were you saying about Daddy and the strange lady?”

And Daddy starts to say something but Mummy says, “You keep quiet - I’ll be talking to my attorney in the morning. Carry on, dear.”

“Well,” says the little girl, “Daddy told me to stay downstairs while they went upstairs, but I followed them without Daddy seeing me, and I saw them hugging and kissing at the top of the stairs. Then they went into your bedroom and shut the door, but I went up and looked through the keyhole.”

“Clever girl,” purrs Mummy. “What could you see through the keyhole?”

“I saw them hugging and kissing some more, and then they started to take each other’s clothes off, and they carried on until they had nothing on, and then the lady got on the bed and Daddy got on top of her.”

“Yes?” says Mummy. “And then what happened?”

If they didn’t label their relationship as romantic it is not a romantic relationship. ppl not involved in the relationship don’t get to determine the nature of a relationship for the people involved in it.

-> “they’re living together” ok? people have roommates?

-> “they have a pet/are raising a child together” yeah co-parenting exists?? plenty of ppl raise children who aren’t romantically involved

-> “they hold hands” so do friends and family :/ what’s ur point

-> “they have sex” friends w benefits exist buddy

None of these actions are inherently romantic. there is no action that is inherently “romantic” - that is only determined by the intent behind the action, not the action itself; nothing is romantic unless you want it to be

Also qprs exist. plenty of qpps do things that could be traditionally labelled “romantic” with no romantic intention behind them, like co-parenting children and living together. plenty of qpps “look” like romantic relationships from the outside even though the ppl involved in the qpr would not label it as such!

I’m not saying that this trope can’t be done well or that ppl can’t realise they have latent romantic feelings for each other once they’ve settled into a domestic routine . however. i think often it reinforces the idea that all relationships have to follow certain rules/appear a certain way or they’re not really valid. trying to force a label onto someone else’s relationship bc it “looks” like what u think a certain relationship type should look like is dumb - there is no one way for a romantic relationship/friendship/qpr to look!

It’s okay to cuddle people you like to spend time with, it’s okay to hug them or hold hands or live together etc

Cute couple

the generation that served in WW2 (and their kids) were forced by the draft and the war effort to live a life of intense discipline, championing values that you might internally question a little but you soldiered on because of you didn’t you were supporting Hitler/Tojo/Stalin/etc.

But also once the war ended, especially in America, it was now The Future!!! Technology was advancing and getting cheaper so now every household could have a reliable refrigerator, blender, coffee maker, dishwasher (at least according to capitalistic propaganda), plus the invention of the highway system and industrial agriculture meant that ingredients could be cheaper and distributed nationwide